Voids of Truth and Lies
by Sohanna
Summary: I've never understood our second in command. Sure, he's kind, smart, wise, and he looks after us, but... I can't help but notice he acts strangely sometimes...
1. Lies

Ha! It works now! So, here's an Antova story with a little Twilight thrown in. Enjoy!

* * *

I never understood our second in command. Sure he was kind, smart, and wise and he looked out for us. But he acts strangely sometimes.

And now we've regained our memory over things before the team was actually the team. The Alchemist never found me. Antauri did. I was half dead, lying in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know what happened or how I got there, but I knew I was dying.

The next thing I knew, Antauri was there. He hauled me onto his back, then ran.

It was incredible, the swiftness with which he ran. The savage jungle was just a blur of green around us, and it seemed like his feet never touched the ground. Within minutes, miles had become feet and we were at the Alchemist's lab.

And as I grew more fond of the team, I realized that Antauri was more elegant then any of us. He was stronger, better built, and a natural combatant. The Alchemist originally planned to have Antauri as the leader, but Antauri turned it down. And only with sheer reluctance did he accept his role as second-in-command.

Antauri confused us all. He claimed to be twenty, but acted much, much older. When Otto first touched him, he yelped and ran. Adorable, hospitable, friendly Otto ran away.

He told us later that Antauri's hands were stone cold. We couldn't believe it.

Once, after the team was assembled, Otto came back from a battle bleeding to death. Antauri kept his distance. When Gibson walked up to him with blood on his hand, Antauri looked like he was in pain. His eyes were wide, he was stiff as a tree's trunk, and he showed no expression except that of panic.

And very recently, Chiro had a deep gash in his arm. Antauri looked desperately like he wanted to help, but kept his distance again.

And that's why I was in my room, trying desperately to figure this stuff out. But I wasn't really a brainiac. That was Gibson's job.

I remembered vaguely his eyes becoming a darker color whenever he got mad.

I stood up, knowing I needed more training. I hadn't done a simulation in weeks. Otto ran into the room.

"Hey Nova!" he said, happily.

"Hi Otto." I replied quietly.

"We're all going to the swimming hole. Wanna come?" he asked.

Yeah, that was a good idea.

"Sure." I said.

He walked out of the room, and I followed.

Outside was the team, chattering.

Antauri looked up and smiled at me. I could only smile back.

"C'mon!" Otto cried. "Let's go!"

When we arrived at the swimming hole, Otto jumped in with his usual 'Monkey Tsunami' and the rest of the team watched on laughing, except Antauri.

I glanced at him.

"What's wrong, Antauri?" I asked.

He looked up at me and grinned.

"It's nothing." He said, but his face was scrunched up like he smelled something bad.

"Well," I said, not fully believing what he had told me. "Let's go!"

I jumped in. The water was cool, but not cold.

"Watch out!" Otto cried as he splashed water into my face. I laughed.

I turned around to see Antauri dive in. Unlike any of our jumps, his didn't even seem to affect the water. No splash, not even a ripple. Just an empty _thwoonk _and he was under the water.

The team went on playing, signaling that I was the only one who had seen it.

I turned back around. Antauri, I knew, wasn't like us. He was somehow… different.

I heard something, low and quiet, but still something. I turned to see a huge wolf on the edge of the cliff above us.

I gasped. It was no ordinary wolf. Standing on all fours it was roughly six feet from his head to the ground. He was far too muscular to be normal, and he was staring hungrily at me.

It lunged into the water.

"What was that?!" Chiro cried, hearing the splash.

I heard Antauri hiss. I looked over at him, and his eyes were an even darker blue than before… nearly black.

The wolf resurfaced and growled, its attention was now on Antauri.

He lunged out of the water and knocked the wolf back under.

I dove down to help, activating my face mask.

What I saw was incredible.

Antauri's face mask wasn't activated, but he was fighting- with his bare hands! And it was working too. The wolf couldn't breathe. It shoved Antauri away and tried for the surface.

Antauri grabbed his foot. A part of me thought 'Oh, real bright Antauri. Grab a wolf that is roughly four to five times your size and yank it back under the water. Great.' But Antauri yanked, and the wolf was back under, hitting hard against the rock bottom.

I gasped. He had super human strength, and stamina! How on Shuggazoom was he holding his breath so long?!

Antauri grabbed the wolf on either side of its head and jerked it to either side. There was a dreadful crack, and the wolf no longer had a head.

"Wha…?" I felt myself mutter.

The next thing I knew, Antauri was right in front of me, and his arm was wrapped protectively around my waist. He lunged us to the surface with the same speed that he'd carried me with long ago.

I shivered as the breeze cooled my damp fur.

I leaned my head against his shoulder. A sudden wave of tiredness flooded me.

"How- How did you…?" I murmured, but he interrupted me.

"Gibson! I think she hit her head!" he called. He rested me on a small island.

"I didn't …" I began, but Gibson was examining me before I could say anything.

"Nova, look at my finger." He said. I did, and I nearly bit his stupid finger.

I looked.

"I didn't hit my head." I insisted. I looked at Antauri. "You snapped its head off with your bare hands!"

Antauri shook his head.

I shoved Gibson off.

"I know what I saw! You pulled that mongrel back under the water when it tried to swim up and you weren't wearing your breathing mask!" I said, stubbornly.

"Nova, we need to get you to med bay. You must have been hallucinating." Gibson said.

"I'll carry her." Antauri said. I looked at Sprx, who had been standing nearby. He didn't seem pleased.

Antauri picked me up and lifted me onto his back.

"I'll meet you back at the robot." He said.

He climbed the cliff slowly. I scowled. He could go faster and I knew it.

I strained my neck to get my head as close to his audio receptors as possible.

"Are you trying to make me look crazy?" I hissed.

I knew he smiled.

"You're doing that too well yourself. Why would you need my help?" he said, jokingly.

I rested my chin on his shoulder.

"You're no crazier than I am." I muttered.

He chuckled.

We were on top of the cliff, and out of site of the Monkey Team.

Antauri took off running with the agonizing swiftness he had when we first met. It was terrifying and incredible at the same time.

* * *

Okay. I really have nothing to say.


	2. Truth

It was terrifying and incredible at the same time.

He avoided the city for obvious reasons. We were at the robot in seconds.

He laid me down in the mad bay.

"I want answers." I said.

Antauri looked at me, a sort of annoyance in his eyes.

"Yes. No. 1.772453…"

"I don't wanna know the square root of pi." I said.

"You knew that?" he asked. I brushed the question aside.

"How did you snap that thing's head off? How did you yank it back under with only one hand? How did you run so fast? Tell me!"

He scowled.

"Adrenalin rush." He said, flatly.

I felt my own eyes narrow.

"Really?" I asked suspiciously.

He nodded.

"Or are you something else? Something you don't want to tell us about?" I asked. I clearly hit the nail on the head.

Antauri's lip curled back to reveal his stunning white teeth gnashed together.

"You wouldn't understand." He snarled.

"Of course I can't, unless you explain." I snapped.

Antauri was right above me, inches from my face before I knew it.

"Maybe I'm just stronger than you or the others." He said. "Maybe I've had more practice, more discipline."

I hesitantly shook my head. His brow furrowed.

"I'm not something you want to be around." He said. His breath was cold on my face, and I shivered.

He smiled mischievously. He leaned down, so his muzzle was near my neck.

"But _I _want to be around _you_." He said. He took a deep breath through his nose. "You smell wonderful."

I froze. _Smell?_

He launched back, his flank slamming against the wall as he did.

"Forgive me. I shouldn't have done that." He said.

My breath came in as gasps.

"What are you?" I breathed.

He looked at me, his blue eyes dark and cold, then he turned around.

"You don't want to know." He said.

"Yes I do!" I snapped.

He swerved around and held a book up to my face.

"Research, Nova." He said. "I know you'll get it… eventually."

He left then, and Gibson walked in.

"How are you feeling, Nova?" he asked.

"Fine." I said, though I knew that my mind was far off.

That night, I curled up with the book. It was on legends passed down from ancient Indians.

I read the table of contents. My eyes fell on the chapter "The Cold Ones."

Antauri's skin… it was unnaturally cold.

I flipped to that page and began reading.

_There were many other enemies out in the wilderness. One was a savage, blood drinking beast, with the skin of a rock in winter._

I froze. _Blood drinker?_

I grabbed my computer and Googled "Cold one."

I clicked on a title that looked a lot like the book I was reading.

I read the descriptions: cold skin, extraordinary stamina, strength and speed, highly attuned senses.

Antauri had all of these traits.

I pulled my knees in close to my chest.

"Vampire…" I whispered.

The next day, I walked with caution to Antauri's room.

After knocking several times on the door and getting no response, I walked in to find he wasn't there.

Chiro walked by me.

"Hey, Chiro, do you know where Antauri went?" I asked.

"He said he was going for a walk." Chiro said, and he left.

Where would Antauri go?

I decided to head for the park.

My hands shook. Was Antauri really a monster? An undead monster?

He wasn't in the park.

So many questions flew through my head.

What did he eat? How did he eat veggies? Why wouldn't he tell us?

I stumbled towards the outskirts; a good portion of me was terrified.

He said I smelled nice. Did he want to eat me?

I came upon a small beach where I sat down.

"Okay Nova… calm down. He hasn't eaten you yet. It's gonna be alright… he won't hurt you…"

"He'll try." A voice behind me said.

I swerved around. Antauri was behind me.

I tried to breath.

He sat down next to me.

"I see you've figured it out." He said, softly.

"Yes." I breathed.

His gaze flowed over my body. I shivered.

"You're scared." He said.

I sighed.

"No." I lied.

He leaned forward. His muzzle was next to my neck, again.

"Yes, you are." He whispered.

He moved back. His cool fingers brushed my cheek.

I trembled. My body was stiff. He leaned down and pressed his cool lips against my forehead.

"I promise. I won't hurt you." He said; his voice was soft, gentle.

I kept trying to breath. He _kissed_ me! Antauri, sensing my unease, pulled away from me.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking away. "You're just…"

I waited.

"... you smell… different. You're sweeter."

He looked at me. He licked his dry lips.

"When I first met you, you were bleeding to death." He said. "I didn't know why, but you were. It was so agonizing! Your blood was everywhere, and it smelled delicious. It took all my strength to carry you to the Alchemist without opening my mouth. Without biting you."

He looked at me, an unexplainable lust in his eyes.

"You didn't." I whispered.

He touched my neck, his cool fingers breaking through my fur and touching my skin.

"Antauri…" I whimpered. He stood up.

"Now you know." He said. He stared at me for a second, then turned to leave.

I looked at the unfriendly clouds above us.

"Antauri wait!" I cried. I stood up as quickly as possible and ran after him.

Even when he was walking, he was too fast for me.

"Antauri!" I yelled.

I ran after him, feeling really stupid.

I tripped. A sharp pain stabbed at my wrist.

I looked at it; a stick had punctured it and now blood streamed from the wound.

"On no…" I muttered.

Antauri was at my side in an instant. His eyes were bloodshot.

"I'm so sorry!" I cried.

"C-C-Cover it up." He said.

I wrapped my hand tightly around the wound.

"Antauri I'm so sorry! I tripped and…"

"J-J-Just keep your hand away." He said.

He picked me up and carried me to the Super Robot.

* * *

I'm considering discontinuing this story. I just... lost interest in this story a long time ago.


End file.
